Cooking For One: Cheese Soufflé

1. Heat the butter in a small pan and add the flour, stir and mix well. Cook 1 minute.
2. Add the milk all at once, stirring vigorously with a wire whisk. Add the salt, pepper, and Tabasco, continue mixing.
3. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken and is rid of lumps.
4. Break the egg and drop the white into a small cup or ovenproof bowl (?? - put it in a bowl or container large enough to beat the eggs white). Place the yolk in another small container.
5. Add a tablespoon or so of the white sauce to the yolk and mix well. Pour this into the remaining white sauce and stir well.
6. Beat the egg white with a rotary beater until it forms stiff peaks. (I used the whisk attachment on my stick blender.)
7. Pour the thickened white sauce into a greased casserole or other suitable vessel; stir in the grated cheese and mix well. (I folded the egg white into the white sauce before putting it in the baking dish.)
8. Carefully fold in the stiff egg white and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the top of the uncovered dish is brown.

* Use a small soufflé pan or at least a straight-sided small casserole so that the soufflé can rise unimpeded up the straight sides of the container while cooking.
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Cooking For One will be a new feature around here. The boys are being very picky lately so I am concentrating on getting them to eat better foods and different foods - I don't want to focus too much on trying new recipes on them. That leaves just me to eat my cooking (except for my baked goods which I share with coworkers). I'll still be making larger recipes but I can't really be making several servings of food just for me all of the time. I enjoy leftovers but some one or two serving recipes will help mix things up. Also, I no longer have a second freezer so I can't just freeze things willy-nilly like I used to - another good reason to cook smaller. (Boy, do I miss that second freezer.)

I shouldn't have any trouble finding material for this although I don't have too many cookbooks that concentrate on small recipes. I have a few. Some of my cookbooks devote a section to cooking for one or two. There are recipes here and there throughout my collection that are just written for one or two. Many recipes can be scaled down. Still, it's definitely not the 'norm' to see recipes for one. I find that odd since I'm sure there are many people cooking just for themselves. It may not be the most effective use of time or energy to make a small portion but you'll certainly get more variety in your diet.

This book was written by a single gentleman and it's a real gem. I picked it up at a library sale for a dollar. I could probably populate this feature solely using recipes from this book. It has a little bit of everything and uses mainly fresh ingredients. The recipes aren't exactly unique but there are recipes that most people wouldn't think of cooking up in a small portion (like a pot roast for instance).

I've always wanted to make a soufflé but it's one of those things that only I would eat so this single small cheese soufflé was just perfect. I've never had a soufflé before but I think it came out great. It wasn't exactly a 'WOW!' but hey, it's basically just eggs and cheese. A delicious flavor combination with a lovely light texture but, again, it's just eggs and cheese. Now that I've gotten my feet wet, I'm looking forward to making other soufflé variations. I'm on the lookout for a nice soufflé dish. The little dish I had worked fine but something smaller with straight sides would help make a more 'dramatic' soufflé.

I'm going to reinstate the question of the day! That might help to increase the number of real comments over the number of spam comments.

8 comments:

Never! On the rare occasions I would need to cook a meal for one (ie, me!) I've always got one person serves of leftovers in the freezer but I normally resort to toast. I just LOVE toast for dinner - for me it's the ultimate dinner alone indulgence :)

I never do, either. Although my husband has been working out of town for almost half the year (off and on), when he's gone, most of the time I still cook for Kat and myself with intentional leftovers in mind.

I love to cook (and eat), but if I were single, I probably wouldn't cook much anymore. I'd cook a huge meal on the weekend and eat it all week.

Paula, that souffle looks so yummy! I'm going to confess something to you. Everybody in my house is a picky eater. They won't try anything new, and won't eat anything with peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc. So whenever I make something like that, I eat it all. And no, it's not a serving for one person. So needless to say, I don't make things like that very often, or I would be so big I wouldn't be able to fit through our front door. Haha!

I would only be cooking for one very, very seldom. And I likely wouldn't be really cooking. It would be reheating leftovers or just having nachos or something like that. Oh, it would also be an occasion to have something that no one else likes. (brussel sprouts or pablano/cheese chicken sausage or spinach/feta chicken sausage) This would be if hubby and also daughter and grands happened to be away.

When do I only cook for one? When my hubbie does something to get himself in the doghouse! I am joking, of course. I always make enough for a family of four, and it is just the two of us. If I am alone, I add onions to anything, because he does not like them!

Some examples of what I cook for just myself: Cream of Wheat (sans onions), a Monte Cristo or a Western sandwich.